The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Hop plant, botanically known as Humulus lupulus, commercially grown for its ornamental value, and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Sumner’.
The new Hop plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Wye, Kent, United Kingdom. The objective of the breeding program was to develop compact Hop plants with high alpha acids and desirable aroma.
The new Hop plant originated from a cross-pollination conducted by the Inventor in July, 1998 of a proprietary selection of Humulus lupulus identified as code number 35/96/7, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with a proprietary selection of Humulus lupulus identified as code number 15/92/2, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Hop plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor in September, 2000 as a single female plant from within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Wye, Kent, United Kingdom.
Asexual reproduction of the new Hop plant by softwood cuttings since June, 2002 in Wye, Kent, United Kingdom has shown that the unique features of this new Hop plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.